Hi - another question from hen keeping newby! I saw a post that said wood chips take a long time to rot down in the compost heap. What is the best bedding? I know straw rots well but I was advised not to use it for hens so i am using wood chips but i want to make plenty of compost asap as i am putting in raised beds and need to fill them up.thanks in advance for any advice.

We use a bedding that is a mix of wood shavings and chopped straw which is pretty snuggly for the chooks and reasonably absorbant. It's made for horses stabling and works well for us.The shavings are thin so don't take as long to rot down as some others we have used and I filled a cubic meter compost bin this Spring and it has rotted down enough on the top to be a mulch on the flower beds with the bottom lot being really well rotted.If you're doing raised beds you could chuck it into the bottom and top with soil, leave over Winter and it should be ready to go in Spring.As long as there is enough soil on top of the bedding for the plants roots to grow in they will be quite happy while the worms etc break down all the fresh stuff.The Victorians used to make naturally heated cold frames by three quarter filling a chest high raised bed with fresh horse poo and topping with 6" of soil and covering with cloches to grow salad crops over Winter. The rotting horse poo heated the soil and the air under the cloche.Dom

Like TS, I use the dust extracted wood shavings with chopped straw used for stables (I buy a big sack/bale at a farm feed merchant) and spread it on top like a mulch or loosely fork it in the upper top soil throughout the year (more contact with soil bacteria will help to rot it down quicker)

On another note, the bedding is treated with a menthol oil (supposed to help with beathing) and smells lovely